thee a crown of life."

Renwick was, furthermore, distinguished by a _catholic, genial, loving
spirit_. This characteristic is not generally thought to have been
prominent in the spirit of illustrious reformers and suffering
confessors. Luther, Calvin, and Knox, have been represented as unsocial,
morose fanatics, and gloomy bigots. Renwick has been branded as rigid
and austere, and those who have embraced and faithfully maintained the
same testimony have been exhibited as sectaries of the deepest dye. No
representation could be more unjust, and none is more opposed to
historic truth. Luther was most genial and loving, as his "Table Talk,"
and the record of his domestic life, abundantly testify. Calvin's
"Letters" collected by Bonnet, show how keenly and long he felt the
death of his wife and infant child; how deeply his heart was affected
with the sufferings of Protestants everywhere, even of those who
differed from him in principle; and attest, moreover, the warmth and
constancy of his friendship. Knox's declaration before Queen Mary, that
he was always affected by the crying of his infant children, shows his
gentle and susceptible disposition; while his letters to his wife and
mother-in-law bear witness, equally to his piety, and to the depth of
tender feeling that filled his large heart. Renwick was, at all times, a
loving, thoughtful, and confiding friend, as many passages in his
"Letters" declare. The annals of the persecution, and the traditions of
suffering times, testify to his genial disposition, even when he was
harassed by relentless enemies, and his heart was overwhelmed with
incessant cares and anxieties.

In proof of the catholic, unsectarian, Christian spirit of Renwick and
his followers, the clear statements of the INFORMATORY VINDICATION, the
work which most fully and clearly defines their position, may be